Friday, June 06, 2008

My heart rate is just returning to normal after the Detroit Red Wings hoisted their 4th Stanley Cup in 11 seasons last night with a thrilling 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 6.

After the heartbreaking triple OT loss at the Joe Monday night in Game 5, the Wings gave every Detroit fans their second heart attack of the week in the final two minutes yesterday. The Penguins cut a two-goal lead to one with just under a minute and a half left then almost tied it up in the closing seconds second.

In the wake of the devastating tying goal just :35 seconds from clinching the Cup in game 5, I think I would have shat myself had Pittsburgh's last second desperation shot gone in.

But, alas, it was not to be.

Well done, Wings!

P.S. Anybody else think there should have been a penalty called when Pavel Datsyuk was tripped near center ice with under :30 seconds left?

i do agree about the penalty on sir pavel. i love that guy by the way. and does ANYONE else think that osgood should have won the most valuable player award? no offense to henrik because the guy is an amazing hockey player, but osgood should have won it. he was a major difference maker in the playoffs.

I have few more years off the ticker and my hair on head and chest is bit whiter!

Don't get me started on the Refs ... this playoff year was one of the most inconsistent and horrendous set of calls I can remember.

As for the Conn Smythe Winner, they did get it right! Yes, Ozzie played a heck of playoff series coming off the bench, but without Hank backchecking the top players from each of the teams we faced, Ozzie would have seen more shots on goal. Hank shutdown "Sid the Kid" (btw NHL and NBC that is lame) and gave him a lesson on being the best two way player in the NHL.

That was a hell of a series. I'm glad that the good guys won it. The refs were pretty inconsistent throughout the whole playoffs. They get Holmstrom on interference when he's nowhere near the net and don't call it when the guy does a Ty Cobb into Osgood. The call at the end of the game was pretty week especially as they ignored the stick getting knocked out of the one of the Red Wing players' hands. Ah well.

As for the Penguins fans...whatever. The hockey gods do not look so kindly on such displays of boorishness. As for calling the Wings cheaters, well the Penguins were doing just as much, including the three hits to Franzen's head the first game he gets back.

And to NBC....I'm glad the playoffs are over so that I don't have to look at Goonie Goo Goo's face one more time. Shoot, they couldn't resist to show his face as the tears rolled down his face because they don't give the Cup to teams that "try really really hard".

Corey, class is a matter of perception. Kinda like the wings fans who pelted the ice with boos and debris after Monday's game. But I'm sure you feel it was justified and therefore they aren't CLASSLESS, JUST CLASSLESS. (fyi -your team won. crabbing about the refs and opposing teams fans afterwards instead of enjoying the win might just earn you a rep for being a poor winner. Much like this blogs distaste for OSU fans who'd rather say 'f-michigan' than 'go bucks'. Just saying...)

Osgood sealed his MVP fate with 34 seconds (and his last 2:00 in game 6 nearly did it again). Zetterburg was a fine choice for MVP. I know it will never happen again, but I always liked the idea that Conn Smythe can go to a member of the losing team. Fleury certainly got the pens farther than they deserved.

Going forward. The wings aren't getting any younger, the 20 year wait list for season tix evaporated as quick as it grew, the MI economy as it is and the tigers bankroll - I just don't see Illitch keeping it going this way for another 17 years.

as for the pens, Greztky's Oilers had to lose to the Islanders before they won. Yzerman's wings had to lose to the Devils before they won. I can't help but like the exceeded expectations of Crosby and co. The next few years should be a lot of fun to watch.

vada, when I saw that story today, I actually got angry. Really angry. And then I went to the CBC website and found that Canadians are angry about it, too. I don't know what caused CBC to think about dropping the hockeyest theme song in the world, but I suspect they're going to have to reconsider sooner or later.

The Wings aren't getting any younger? Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen, and Cleary are just reaching their prime. Kronwall, Hudler and Filpulla have yet to reach theirs. Helm, Abdelkader, Meech, Ericsson, Leino and Howard all have great upside potential and are under 25. And oh yeah, they have enough cap money to resign Stuart and go after someone like Sundin. Not to mention that your 2007-2008 Norris Trophy winner will be back next year, and doesn't look as though he's lost a step.

A great day for our state. Congrats Redwings! And speaking of tongue hockey........The only thing that could have made it better was to have two lesbians showing affection at the game. Yost, this topic just doesn't seem like something we would be interested in. It's just two lesbians kissing and playing tongue hockey at a recent Mariners game. Don't research it or post any pictures of two girls turning each other on during a baseball game. Nothing interesting here, just two women (excuse me....panting, perspiring) locking lips and (oooooooo)getting happy. So I agree, nothing to post about.... just two girls wetting each others lips.......and tongue wrestling........and mmmmm what? what happened? OH, yeah, congrats RedWings!!

Conrats to the Wings, but I think the Pen's fans had a right to think that Fluery was the one who deserved the Conn Smythe award. The Wings completely outclassed the Penguins on the ice. It wouldn't have even been a series without Fluery and his amazing stops. My heart really went out to him when that puck squirted between his legs for the game deciding goal.

Absolutely Yost. There is NO GAME better than hockey when it is played well. And, yes, I include football in that list. That was a great series and when that puck went along the goal line at the end, I was on the floor passing out...

There were a lot of players that could have been given the Conn Smythe, but Zetterberg was the man on that 3 vs 5, including stopping Crosby from even attempting a shot into what would have been an open net. Saved the game and probably the series with that one. Yeah, he deserved it. Still Osgood with 2 shutouts to start the series has a claim as well.

Pimp my own writing time. It's not much, but here it is:http://bamapachyderm.com/archives/2008/06/05/what-is-that-cup-thing-anyway/

Have a good night everyone. How long to kickoff??? Got the football shakes already.

titleix, you are correct on the no call at the end. The torch and pitchfork crowd coming out of Pittsburg would have been overwhelming. Besides, if they had not started celebrating at that 5 second point when the puck went out, that last flurry on Osgood would not have happened.

"Going forward. The wings aren't getting any younger, the 20 year wait list for season tix evaporated as quick as it grew, the MI economy as it is and the tigers bankroll - I just don't see Illitch keeping it going this way for another 17 years."

Congratulations on listing everyone on the wings roster who isn't over 30.

I never said they didn't have young talent or couldn't develop it (they do and they can). I never said they were in their last throws (far from it). I implied that if the arena continues to be 1/4 empty like it was much of the season (and the first 3 rounds of the playoffs) that it will be very hard for them to continue to operate in the manner that they have over the past 17 years. The wings aren't the $$$ machine that they were 5 years ago.

I'm afraid I don't have the time or ambition to teach you basic economics. For that I apologize.

Drive home safely. Jesus loves you. Say hi to Kwame for me at the parade today.

Speaking of organized violence (see hockey), is this what you all do when you win a hockey championship? God forbid you ever win a college football national championship. I think I smell the aromatic fragrance of burning couch.

GH,I read very well, thank you, particularly between the lines. I took your comment as a wishful thought from a Pens fan. If I'm wrong and you're just a hockey fan worried about the dire financial straits soon to befall the best orgaization in hockey, my apologies.Your comment smacked of the refrain common in the media, that the Wings have bought their way to 4 Cups in the past 11 years. You may be familiar with the term "salary cap", which means that isn't possible anymore. You may also be familiar with the term "revenue sharing", which means that individual team results are not as pertinent to the amount of spending that can be done. You may also be unfamiliar with the concept that the Wings and the Tigers are separate businesses that Mr. Ilitch is not, in fact, funding out of his personal wallet. Taken together, these facts show that you're talking from your nether regions.Basic economics suggest that keeping a team full of number one draft choices together for the long haul is going to be difficult at best. I hope the Pens are able to pull it off for a few years, as I think this was one of the best Cup finals in a long time, and I'd like to see it again next year. You need to hire a coach who will play the game, not the media, though.

Howard,I must say, I appreciate your interpretation (and extreme jumps to conclusions) of my words, but I'm afraid you're putting more words in my mouth than reading between the lines.

Who's being wishful? I say that my team has a lot to look forward to and its going to be fun to watch them. I don't think thats a stretch of blind homerism. Go back and reread if you don't beleive me. (Afterall, you do it so well.)

Whereas, you seem to feel that retiring and soon to be retiring hall of famers will be easily replaced. You even go on to list 20-year-old 2nd and 3rd round draft picks that had sparse playing time in the regular season and no contribution in the playoffs as proof that there will be no drop off.

I suggest that declining attendance and ticket sales will have a negative affect on your team (note: I didn't say crushing affect, I said negative, such as taking the wings from 'total domination' to 'very very competitive'.) and you leap forth with logic that a salary cap/revenue share will not affect a historically big money big market team? (not sure exactly how that works. You lost with somewhere with the ramble about the media and buying cups which has nothing to do with what I said).

But maybe you're right..... the wings will keep it all going this way until at least 2025. Past performance being the guaranteer of future results.

While there are few guarantees in life, I'm pretty comfortable in the assertion that the Wings will continue to spend to the salary cap limits. You for some reason believe that a few empty seats means that they won't be able to afford to do that. That is what is called a leap in logic. Also not sure what the Tigers "bankroll" has to do with anything.

Anyway, in a league where no one can outspend all the other teams, money ceases to be a differentiating factor, save for the intelligence used in where it is spent. Hockey success has really never been about the size of a team's payroll, else the New York Rangers would've won at least 4 Cups in the late 90s/early 00s instead of missing the playoffs entirely. The Wings strength is their organization's ability to find, develop and keep talent that others have overlooked. That and coaching will have a much greater effect on their ability to defend the Cup next year than how much money they spend and how many empty seats there are in the Joe.

As to the youth factor, the core of the team is in their late 20s. I listed the younger players to demonstrate that the Wings have talent in the pipeline, not to suggest they would jump in and star immediately. The Pens gave up a lot of young talent to rent Hossa for the playoffs. If they can't resign him, that's a significant loss, in my estimation.

So, not so fast on your assertion the Wings are on their way down while the Pens are on their way up. Or is that also putting words in your mouth? If you truly didn't mean to echo the same old tired meme that the Wings win because of payroll, and just wanted to engage in some Pens boosterism, why the gratuitous shot at Michigan's economy, and what does the waiting list or lack thereof for season tickets have to do with anything?

Zetterberg, Datsyuk and Franzen all came from the low rounds of the draft. I forget the numbers but for some reason the 5th or 6th rounds come to mind. As for an empty arena, I think the Joe has been selling out but people haven't been showing up. Many of the lower bowl seats are corporate types.

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